Rabat to Canaries

Moonrise

Exiting the Rabat marina was not as fretful as I expected.  After being re sniffed by the dogs de douane we were OK to go.  Ocean swell not too bad, but once again, no wind so we motored.  Swell.  Days turn into nights turn into days into nights.  You get up & go when it's your turn to watch.  The big events are:  sunset, full moonrise, moon set, sunrise, & the occasional turtle floating by like an animated pancake.  We had 2 big events in one day, I had to go lie down after all the excitement.  Francois spots a couple of dolphins, then Serge & I see groups of 2 & 3 & before you know it, they are converging on the boat from all directions.  There must have been 20 or more of all sizes swimming with us at the bow.  We slowed down so they would stay longer.   Then, a little later, WE CATCH A FISH!  I heard the whizzing of the line on my afternoon watch so I called the boys up to take care of it, something I'm getting increasingly good at doing, according to Serge.  We had a baby tuna, all shiny & bright blue stripes, about 2 kilos.  It made a very nice sushi, with the rest for dinner. 

Skyping with the fam & telling this story elicits the comment, HOW EXCITING!  How exciting indeed, you have no idea.  Actually, it gets a little exciting as we approach Gran Canaria in the night and the wind picks up so we get to sail for about 12 hours.  Radar shows ships dead ahead but I can't distinguish anything against the lights of shore until they get quite close.  Then we start to get 30 knot wind gusts & we are really barrelling along.  Seas were very confused as we got closer, waves refracting off of the cliffs and giving poor Otto the pilot 30 degree shifts to react to, so Serge took over, cursing all the while.   Neptune should really get his act together.  Las Palmas is a really big port, lots of action all the time, even off season.  As usual, the marinaro helping us into our slip is a total moron.  How do they manage to find so many?  Wind blowing across the bow at 15 knots with 1 boat length to maneuver.  Serge took a second approach that was going to be perfect except for marinmoron in his Zodiac who thinks he should push the bow the SAME WAY the wind was blowing, and against the bow thruster.  So we ended up diagonally in a very narrow slip, scraping on the neighbours.  Serge was very upset.  He prides himself (rightfully) on parking his boat with lunar landing precision.  He was going to have a perfect performance in front of the gathering audience.  Instead we look like real morons.  No damage done, except to the skipper's ego.

Grumpy just for fun

We'll look for one more crew here.  Easier said than done.  There is a knock at our transom almost as soon as we dock.  Matteo the musician who has no experience but is a fast learner & plays healing, relaxing music on his guitar.  Ooookaaayyy.  Some other space cadet in really grubby pants wants a ride too.  A tribe of rasta type youths who look like they are living on the beach are all looking for passage.  We actually interview a couple of them, young Swiss men one of which has a huge mass of dreadlocks tied up behind his head & a wooden hole in his earlobe.  He's really cute, except for having 2 heads.  His friend with really long toenails wants a certified 1000 mile passage to get his captain's license, his longest passage is 14 hours, he eats mostly rice & sprouts, smokes cigarettes, & drinks a little wine occasionally (riiiiight)  He ends up REJECTING US!!  Seems he doesn't want to spend 2 weeks with us old farts. Hmpht.  Then a young woman who wants to go to Brazil passes on our offer too.  I'm beginning to get a complex.  Finally a nice couple from Brittany, like Francois, is moving in tomorrow.   We're casting off for Martinique around noon.  Should be there in about 2 weeks.  If this turns out to be my last post, in lieu of flowers send money to our favourite charity, our KIDS!

THE EAGLE HAS LANDED

Ficus in Cartagena

We would have gone straight to Rabat but we had to stop for oil.  OH, THAT'S what that flashing red light was all about.  While I was sleeping they decided to stop for the night.  All the big ships we were passing seemed a little strange, they usually pass us.  There was a big oil rig coming through the Straits of Gibraltar, & all marine traffic was being halted.  They could've TOLD us. There is a small fishing port called La Linea, just North of Gibraltar, so they anchored there for the night, while I get to listen to the bow thruster & anchor winch grinding right next to my head.
Next day we encounter very strong local winds & some lively dolphins.

This "fin" at the bottom is the tip of our anchor

Watch the video of them here:

We celebrated New Year's eve with a cockpit dinner & bubbly.  Still motoring, I noticed that our motoring light was out.  I encountered at least 17 fishing boats at once, even more if you count the unlit ones you can only see on the radar.  On Serge's watch we almost collided with a *#^ ? ROWBOAT, instead of navigation lights, he figured standing up & waving would do.  At daylight  we called the marina & they sent out a dinghy to guide us in.  Most harbours have breakwaters parallel with the waves, Rabat has a funnel shaped entrance to accelerate the waves in.  At one point we had to throttle back to avoid surfing on top of the dinghy.

Our slave master

Gibraltar

Lighthouse at Gibraltar

Mosque guarding Gibraltar

One of those cute little fishing boats in daylight

1st perpendicular breakwater

Port side hazard

Starboard hazard

PAY ATTENTION!

Here it comes

He'll never know what hit him

Sentry post

We had to wait for the police, then customs, then immigration to clear us in on New Years Day.  The black lab sniffer dog is more interested in my garbage, my parts & the leg of cured Spanish ham we have hanging in back.  We can't believe that we're starting 2012 back in Morocco.    I know this adventure is supposed to end here, but if anyone is still reading this, let me know if you want to hear about the trip to the Canaries & beyond.   Right now we are waiting until they open the harbour again, the waves are too big to get in or out.  Maybe that's how the old pirate ships captured their prey, you can surf in, but you can't get out.  HELP, WE'RE BEING HOSTAGE IN RABAT!

STUFF THE MED!

Another day of motoring, rolling & flogging.  And it's cold, too cold for lunch in the cockpit.  It'd be more fun to scrape my arse with a brick.  I want my money back.
Lightening flashes on the horizon regularly off our stern and near port we get a few sprinkles of rain.  I notice a boat behind us only because of the reflection of their stern light on the water. OMG! THEY'RE FOLLOWING US!  I guess they don't have enough evidence to board us.  Not 10 min. before we would be securely tied up it starts to pour down rain.  The marinero puts us right against the boardwalk, behind the tourist catamaran.  We become part of the tourist attractions.  While filling up the marina forms Serge sees a picture of a boat that looks just like ours.   It was stolen from Rome in the middle of Dec.  Maybe that's why we got all that attention.  Or maybe it was just my blonde hair.  Oh, that's right, my hair isn't blonde anymore.  We catch a Flamenco concert in Cartagena, a couple of singers & guitarists, all male.  Quite remarkable, unlike anything I've heard before.

Latest tourist attraction

Leaving Calpe

This must have been the old post office

Main street

Yes, they are big.

Roman amphitheatre

We decide to go straight to Rabat from here, about 3 days.  Francois drama takes interesting twists & turns circling the globe with messages between owner, captain & family members all the way to New Zealand.  My watch is 2am to 5am.  The phosphorescent algae glows green here & shows up on the edges of our wake like a dashed line.  I see a green glow on the horizon, with nothing else, no other lights to distinguish a boat.  It comes closer & I actually get scared.  I'm all alone in the dark in the middle of the ocean and a mysterious green glow is stalking me.  We end up passing each other.  When I get to the part of the water that it just came from the algae is extremely active, showing up like a green neon tube at the leading edge of every wave.  On Serge's watch later, he noticed bright trails on each side of the boat, & saw they were being made by dolphins following us.